THE HOPE OF ISRAEL - The Preterist Archive

28 The Hope of Israel: What Is It?
God, the two expressions being used by Him interchangeably).
Thus He taught His disciples, saying,
"Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become
as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom
of heaven" (Mat. 18:3) ;
and He goes on to show
that to enter into that kingdom is to "enter into life"
(vv. 8-11) And this He followed up by declaring how
.
hard it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom
(Matt. 19:16-26), calling it in one verse (23) "the
kingdom of heaven," and in the next, "the kingdom of
God." And He concluded the lesson by saying to those
who had forsaken all and followed Him ; "Verily I say
unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration
when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of
His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel" (v. 28).
From this it appears that the "all Israel" of Scripture
here designated as "the twelve tribes of Israel,"
is a spiritual nation-, and that it shall come into its inheritance
in the day of "glory," when the kingdom of
God shall be manifested, and when Christ, who is now
upon His Father's throne in heaven, shall occupy the
throne of His glory.
Returning now to Paul's defense before King
Agrippa, we note his concluding words:
"Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue
unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying"
not a new thing, a mystery never before revealed,
but "none other things than those which the
prophets and Moses did say should come" not that
Christ would restore earthly dominion to national Israel,
as now is widely taught amongst Christians, but
"that Christ should suffer, and that He should be the
first that should rise from the dead, and should show